Doll eyes



S. MARCUS Dec. 30, 1930.

DOLL EYES I Filed Jan. 25. 1929 Patented Dec. 30, 1930 nairan STATES PATENT OFFICE MARCUS, F RIVERDALE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 IvIARKON MANUFACTUR ING (10., ING, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., .A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK DOLL EYES Application filed January 25, 1929. Serial No. 334,896.

This invention relates to an improvement in doll eyes, and an object thereof is to provide means whereby doll eyes may be adjustably connected with their supporting '5 cross rod.

A further object is to provide means by which to definitely limit the extentof adjustability, so as thereby to prevent unintentional injury to the eye structure.

A more detailed object is to provide an eye which is adjustably movable with respect to its supporting cross rod in various directions to wit longitudinally along the cross rod, rotatably about the cross rod, ro-

tatively about a horizontal axis transverse to the length of the rod and rotatively about a vertical axis transverse to the length of the cross rod, and to provide means for limiting the adjustability of the eye about said last mentioned axis.

A further detailed object is to provide means carried by the eye for directly engaging a cylindrical cross rod to permit adjust ment of the eye longitudinally and rotatably of said rod, which means comprises parts formed all from a single integral piece of material adapted to provide a uniformly firm frictional grip upon the cross rod notwithstanding considerable variation in the .30 diameter of the cross rod. j

A. further object is to provide a metallic eye shell made :upto include a main semispherical body and means by which said body may be connected with the cross rod to per- 1 mit adjustment of said, shell longitudinally along the cross rod, rotatably about the cross rod. and rotatively about a vertical axis transverse to the length of the cross rod, alsolimiting means with respect to the last mentioned feature of adjustabilit-y, all from a single piece of sheet'metal.

Other objects and aims of the invention, more or less specific than those referred to above, will be in part obvious and in part 4 pointed out in the course of the following description of the elements. combinations, ar-

rangements of parts and applications of principles constituting the invention; and

the scope of protection contemplated will be indicated in theappended claims.

In the accompanying drawings which are to betaken as a part of this specification, and in which I have shown merely a preferred form of embodiment of the invention Fig. 1 is a rear elevational view of a portion of an eye set constructed in accordance with this invention. I

Fig. 2is a side elevational view of one of the eyes of said set, the view being taken from the point as indicated by the arrow L in Fig. 1. c

1 Fig.3 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially upon the plane of line III-III of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevational view, partly in section, taken upon the plane of line IV-IV of Fig.1, and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken upon the plane of line V-V of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing for describing in detail the exemplary structure illustrated therein, the reference characters G and H indicate generally the two eyes of the set. These are connected together by a cylindrical cross rod 1 which may be mounted in a doll 7. head in any approved manner as by means of a bracket member 2, and which may carry the usual gravity control device including a weight 3 rigidly connected with the cross rod by a weight arm 4. I

The eye G, which is of course usually a duplicate of eye H, is made up entirely of a single piece of sheet metal the central portion of which constitutes aback plate as 5 of the eye shell, and marginal portions of which include segmental parts as 66 bent forwardly to constitute the main semipherical body as indicated generally by the reference character 7 in Fig. 2.

About theouter surface of the body 7 there is fitted a separate shell as 8, usually of celluloid, carrying the iris picture 9 and eyelid color 10 said shell 8 being connected with the main body in any appropriate manner usually by having its rear marginal edge folded around the rear annular edge of the body 7, as indicated 11 in Fig. 4, said shell 8 being thus connected for rotative adjustment upon the body 7 about an axis which in the finished article is substantially horizontal and transverse to the length of the cross rod. The frictional engagement of the shell 8 with the main body 7 is suflicient to retain the shell 8 in any position into which it has been adjusted.

The back plate 5 is provided with a series of alternately oppositely pressed yokes as 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 collectively defining a horizontal bearing through which the cylindrical cross rod 1 extends, said yokes having frictional engagement with the'cylindrical surface of the cross rod to frictionally hold the plate, and hence the entire eye structure, in any position upon the cross rod to which the eye structure may be moved either longitudinally ori-otatiy'ely of the cross rod.

It a particular feature of the present improvement that these yokes which are formed up as integral parts of the back plate 5 shall be so shaped as to have each only two points of contact with the cross rod. The yokes 1?) and 15 have contact with the cross rod only at the points indicated 17 and 18 while the yokes 12, 14 and 16 have contact only at the points 19 and 20, as clearly shown in Fig. Each yoke is shaped so that, instead of being of a true semicircular form corresponding with the cylindrical contour of the cross rod, it providestwo distinct angnlarly related leaf-spring elements as 21 and '22 hearing against the cross rod at theirmid portions, said mid portions being tliereby free to yield to considerable extents for accommodating variations in the diameters of different cross Q rods. The adjacent ends of the leaf-springs extend away from the cross rod and are connected together as at 23. The outer ends of said leaf-springs also extend away from the cross rod and merge into the back plate-5.

It will be understood of course that eyes of the type here concerned are'made up in -large quantities, as are also the cross rods with their brackets and gravity weight etc., and that the eyes are connected with opposite ends of the cross rod by being forcefully telescoped over said ends and adjusted thereon into the desired positions. The diameters of different cross rods vary to considerable extent. Even the circular contour of different crossrods is not always truely circular. Also the bearings defined by the several yokes in different eyes, although made from the same die, vary to slight extents due to different causes which are well understood in this art. By making the yokes to comprise distinct leaf spring sections as indicated a substantially uniform degree of frictional engagement between the yokes and cross rods is provided even in the presence of material variation of the kinds referred to.

At opposite sides of the cross rod, that is at points above and below the cross rod, the back plate is shaped to provide reduced arms 2424-. from the outer ends of each of which continues a pair of fingers 25-25 spaced apart and constituting the only direct connection between the back plate and the body 7. Both the arms and the fingers are bendable and being substantially aligned transversely of the cross rod constitute a connection between the body 7 and the cross rod by which the body is adjustable about a V61: tical axis transversely of the cross rod.

The fingers 25 are relatively more easily bendable. than the arms 24 and, being spaced apart circumferentially of the rear edge of the body, are so located that whereas an adjusting movement of the body rotatively of the vertical axis just mentioned will cause a twisting or torsional strain upon the arms it will cause only a straight bending strain upon the fingers. An adjusting movement of the body in one rotary direction will cause the lingers at one side of the axis'of rotation to bend relatively inwardly while the fingers at the opposite side of the axis will bend relatively outwardly. An adjusting movement of the-body in the opposite rotary direction will cause a reverse bending of the fingers respectively, the torsional twistingmovement of the arms meanwhile always serving to insure movement of the body about" a substantially fixed axis.

In order to limit rotary adjustment of the body 7 about the vertical axis defined by the arms 24 the present invention proposes additionally that the back plate 5 may be formed with extensions as 26 at opposite sides of the axis defined by the arms 24 spaced a suitable distance beneath opposing extensions as 27 provided upon the body 7, the space as 28 between the extensions 26 and27, see Fig, 5, being estimated to cause said extensions to engage together only when the body 7 has been moved to the maximum extent necessary for normal use.

As many changes could be made in this construction without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims, it is intended that all inattercontained in the above description, or shown in the accompanying drawing, shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is z 1. A doll eye set comprising a cross rod, means to rotatably support the cross rod, a pair of eyes, and means by which said eyes are connected with the cross rod, the means by which at least one of said eyes is connected with the cross rod consisting of a back plate formed as a part of the eye and having a plurality of yokes pressed therein projecting in alternate opposite directions to collectively form a bearing within which the cross rod frictionally engages, said yokes each being of resilient material and each being shaped to constitute two leaf-spring sections,

each leaf-spring section having frictional engagement with the cross rod at the mid portion only of the length of the respective section, the opposite end portions of the re spective sections projecting tangentially away from the cross rod, the bearing thus defined by said leaf spring sections providing four points of contact with the cross rod spaced substantially equi-distant circumferentially of the cross rod and being normally too small to receive the cross rod but the flexibility of the leaf spring sections enabling forced insertion of the cross rod.

2. A doll eye comprising a hemispherical body, and a back plate at the rear of said body, said back plate having means defining a hearing within which to receive a cross rod for the support of the eye, said back plate being also shaped to define a pair of aligned arms integral therewith projecting at opposite sides of the bearing, each of said arms having a pair of fingers projecting therefrom integral therewith spaced apart and continuing into connection with the body, said arms and said fingers all being independently bendable to collectively define an axis about which the body is adjustable with respect to the back plate.

3. A doll eye comprising a hemispherical body, and a back plate at the rear of said body having means for the attachment of a cross rod thereto, said body and said back plate being formed from a single integral piece of sheet material the back plate being the central portion of said piece of sheet material and the body being formed as bent marginal parts of said piece of sheet material, the portion of the sheet of material constituting the back plate being severed from the portion constituting the body except at two localities disposed respectively at opposite sides of the cross rod attaching means, said sheet material at said mentioned localities being bendable to define an axis of rotary adjustment of the body with respect to the back plate, andv the severed edges of the back plate at opposite sides of said axis being spaced in opposed relation from the adjacent severed edges of the body to constitute stops adapted to abut together for limiting relative rotary adjustment of the body and back plate.

In testimony whereof I aifiX my signature.

SAMUEL MARCUS. 

